Jana Gana Mana reminiscent of British rule: Poet Gopal Das ‘Neeraj’

Claiming that Jana Gana Mana is reminiscent of British rule in India, Hindi poet Gopal Das ‘Neeraj’ has said that ‘Vande Matram’ or ‘Jhanda Ooncha Rahe Humara’ should replace the song penned by Rabindranath Tagore as the national anthem .

Claiming that Jana Gana Mana is reminiscent of British rule in India, Hindi poet Gopal Das ‘Neeraj’ has said that ‘Vande Matram’ or ‘Jhanda Ooncha Rahe Humara’ should replace the song penned by Rabindranath Tagore as the national anthem.

The 92-year-old Padma Bhushan awardee said due to the colonial hangover some saw those working in English as “bade” (big) and others as “chhote” (small). “I have written in English also during my initial years as a poet. But, it was Harivansh Rai ‘Bachchan’ ji who asked me to focus on writing in Hindi. He told me ‘Kavita maatribhaasha mein hi hoti hai’ (poetry is done in mother tongue),” Neeraj said.

He also recalled his acquaintance beginning in early 1940s with the legendary Hindi poet and father of Bollywood mega star Amitabh Bachchan, whom he says he has “lap-fed”.

Asked if he felt there was a bias in the acknowledgement bestowed on litterateurs based on the language in which they work, he said, “Now it is the trend that if someone writes in English, they are taken as big men while those writing in Hindi are small. We have been slaves (of British rule). Our national anthem is also from the era when we were a British colony. The Britishers have left, but some still continue to remain slaves (of English).”

He also said the national anthem was written by Tagore in 1911 at the coronation of George V, the King of United Kingdom.Asked if he was suggesting a change in the patriotic composition, he said, “Now that it is the national anthem what can be done. Why did we leave ‘Vande Matram’... so many people were martyred for Vande Matram... Hindus as well as Muslims. In ‘Jan Gan Mana Adhinanayak’, ‘adhinayak’ stands for dictator. ‘Jayahe Bharat Bhagya Vidhaata’, he is the creator of the destiny of Bharat. Punjab Sindhu Gujarat Maratha, where is the Sindh now in India?”

“Even Jhanda Ooncha Rahe Humara was a better song. This is the good song to honour the national flag. But if Jan Gana Man is the national anthem, what can be done... .”

When Jhanda Ooncha Rahe was used in a Rajinikanth-starrer film

He favoured Vande Matram as the national anthem. When asked if that was not in line with the RSS or the BJP, he said, “It is my own ideology. Nobody else has to tell me anything. I am a humanitarian poet. If you read my poetry you would know it. Sangh, BJP or any other... I have no relations with any political party. I have risen above things like these, politics is a third class thing.”

Listen to Vande Mataram

“I have never written anything cheap. I still write and people invite me to programmes because I say what is right,” he said, adding “poetry stands for humanism. There is no bigger truth in the world than human himself,” Neeraj said.

Listen to the national anthem in Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle’s voices